Pubdate: Thu, 25 Oct 2012
Source: Boston Herald (MA)
Copyright: 2012 The Boston Herald, Inc
Contact:  http://news.bostonherald.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/53
Note: Prints only very short LTEs.
Author: Margery Eagan

TIME IS RIGHT FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA

Right before Massachusetts voted in a landslide to decriminalize 
marijuana possession, prosecutors crusading against the evil weed 
confessed they'd smoked it. District Attorneys Dan Conley of Suffolk, 
Gerry Leone of Middlesex and Michael O'Keefe of the Cape all admitted 
to silly, youthful inhales.

Yesterday, Worcester County DA Joseph Early hesitated when asked 
about young and irresponsible pot use. "I went to UMass," he said. 
"In the '70's."

To which I replied, "Nuff said."

Which helps make my point. The reefer-madness, sky-is-falling 
rhetoric used every time marijuana laws get challenged around here 
doesn't cut it anymore. Almost everybody knows former potheads who 
grew up to be upstanding citizens - even prosecutors.

Simply put, ballot Question 3 legalizing medical marijuana should 
pass because almost everybody today also knows someone whose 
suffering might have been alleviated. But they never got their weed 
because our state government, incredibly, has the gall to tell dying 
patients, "Sorry, against the rules."

Talk about madness.

On Monday some young, recovering drug addicts were at the State House 
opposing Question 3. With all due respect, there's no more 
relationship between recreational marijuana use and drug addiction 
than there is between social drinking and alcoholism.

Plus, these young people "didn't get (their marijuana) from a 
physician," said state Rep. Frank Smizik, a Brookline Democrat who 
favors Question 3. They likely got it where lots of teens do: from 
another kid at school.

This brings me to the old bugaboo, "What about the children?"

Question 3 opponents predict teens will sneak off to unscrupulous 
doctors to get bogus prescriptions which they will then take to 
slippery marijuana stores. That's a lot of hassle for a 16-year-old 
who can make an easy buy two minutes after school lets out.

What you notice about this particular weed war is that many 
proponents have seen firsthand the suffering marijuana might help.

Smizik's daughter's dying father-in-law traveled here for her wedding 
to his son only after getting a prescription in California. Dr. Karen 
Munkacy, a Newton breast cancer survivor, wanted the drug but couldn't get it.

Even DA Early, who opposes the ballot question's wording, does not 
oppose medical marijuana itself. He watched a close friend endure 
pancreatic cancer. "And he couldn't keep food down," he said.

The only solution is to pass Question 3. If it's as poorly crafted as 
opponents claim, let lawmakers fix it. The sick and dying shouldn't 
have to wait one more day.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom